Sinn Fein has denied that a Derry man who shot at a gang attacking his home has been forced to leave the city in fear of his life. The party's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, rejected claims that Mr Joseph McCloskey (30) has been forced to leave Derry under threat of death from the Provisional IRA.
Mr McCloskey's mother Bridie had said her entire family had been threatened after the incident and she had demanded assurances from Sinn Fein Education Minister Mr Martin McGuinness that they would not be harmed.
Mr McCloskey fired a single shot from a legally held weapon on Monday night when five masked men armed with guns and sledgehammers tried to break into his home in the Shantallow Estate.
The RUC has since arrested a man who was being treated for gunshot wounds to his leg in Altnagelvin Hospital in the city.
The attack on Mr McCloskey's home in Drumleck Gardens appears to be linked to a row in a pub last weekend. Mr McLaughlin would not say if the Provisional IRA was involved but said he believed the situation could be resolved.